


Stand By Me

by katy15307



Series: Be Here Now 1997 [4]
Category: Oasis (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 00:27:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7913347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katy15307/pseuds/katy15307
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Noel comes face to face with a girl he hasn't seen in 15 months, and her baby.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stand By Me

I was used to the stares, after all this time people were still judging me, thinking they know my story. I was young but I wasn’t as young as everyone always thought I was.  
I should be able to go shopping without everyone glancing at me like I had something on my face, maybe I was still thinking too much into people’s looks.  
It was a nice, sunny day. There was no April showers in the air today which was really lucky, especially for Manchester.  
I went into Woolworths and saw a display of Disney films.  
“Why does it take so long for films to get released on video?” I complained seeing Aladdin was “coming soon”  
We hadn’t seen it yet since she didn’t have the attention span for the cinema and I didn’t have the time or the money but I couldn’t wait to see it.  
There wasn’t any on display we didn’t already own so we moved on.  
Some lad was stood at the pick n mix so I couldn’t get past him with the pram. I wished I’d just carried the baby in the sling to avoid these maneuvering incidents but I wouldn’t be able to carry everything I needed like that.   
I “accidentally” knocked the pram into his leg to get him to move.  
“Oi! Watch out.” he turned and glared at me.  
“Sorry, dodgy wheel.” I gave my usual excuse without paying any attention to him. I didn’t look at him, I just looked down and tried to steer around him now he’d moved aside.  
“Oh my God, it’s you. What the fuck?” he reacted.  
“Noel.” I looked up at him, instantly recognising his voice.  
“Where the fuck have y’been? Y’just disappeared.”  
I hadn’t seen or heard anything from him since I got pregnant, it was like we were no longer on the same planet.  
“Nowhere, I just couldn’t hang around with you lot anymore. Things changed.”  
It was always the same with them, messing around, thinking they were destined to be the next rock stars even though nobody wanted to give them the time of day. They were so stupid thinking they were going to hit it big but it was fun hanging around them while they tried.  
“What things?” he frowned.  
“Like having my daughter.”  
“You do not have a daughter.”  
I pointed down into the pram at and he took a look and watched her sleep. “Fuck off, she’s not your daughter.”  
“She is.” I confirmed.  
“Who’s the dad then? When the fuck did yer have her, how old is she?” he questioned, baffled.  
“She’s seven months old.” I stated.  
“Y’don’t know?”   
I bit my lip not wanting to talk about it. “Y’know how things were when I was hanging around with you lot.”  
“Y’should’ve told us.”  
“Cos that would’ve gone down well. Look, I’ve gotta get goin’.” I pushed the pram forward, I was impatient enough with shopping as it was without being interrupted.  
“Y’can’t just walk from me now, I’m not doin’ nothin’ today.” He started following me.  
“What about your sweets?”  
“I’ve suddenly not got the stomach for it, we’ve got to talk about this.”  
“Alright, y’can come with us while we’re shopping.” I reluctantly agreed. “I don’t know what there is for me t’say though.”  
“Y’had a baby, might be mine, you’ve got a lot t’say.”  
“She’s not yours Noel.” I told him firmly as we walked.  
As far as I could be, I was certain she wasn’t his. She and him are nothing alike.  
“Who’s down on the birth certificate then?”  
“No one.”  
We stopped at the baby section so I could pick up some nappies and new dummies since she keeps losing them.  
“Y’should come down the Boardwalk and see us again.” he suggested.  
“I can’t bring a baby to that horrible rehearsal room.”  
It was dirty, smoky, far too hot and smelt of sweat and piss, they were there so long they didn’t notice and neither did I after a few drinks. It was no place for a child, let alone a baby.  
“Yeah well we’re not gonna be there much fuckin’ longer once we’re signed.”  
“You’ve been at it, what two years now, how long before you accept it’s not happening?” I asked as we walked again.  
“We just need that one chance, y’know we do. We’ve got demo tapes sorted now.”  
I never denied they had the talent, it just wasn’t getting seen by the right people, it wasn’t getting seen by anyone last time I was there.  
“Cool.”  
“C’mon, we’ve missed ya.”   
I didn’t think he was going to take no for an answer, he never did before so I didn’t bother arguing. “I’ll ask Mam if she’ll babysit.”  
“Tonight?”  
I nodded. “Tonight.”  
Now I had to think up a lie, there was no way Mum would be happy to babysit while I went back to the Boardwalk with the lads.  
“I’ll make sure they all get their arses there. Y’have to tell them though.”  
“There’s nothing to say, d’you want your band distracted wondering which one’s the lucky sperm donor?”  
“At least tell Guis’.”  
I looked at him with furrowed eyebrows. “Why?”  
“She looks like ‘im and he was your… the one you was actually with.”  
“Can we just drop it? I’ll tell them about the baby but I’m saying it was a one night stand like I told everyone else.”  
“Y’told yer Mam y’shagged some randomer?”  
“One night with some guy was better than explaining how I was casually shagging my friends or that I was with Guis’ forever behind her back.”  
“What about her growin’ up not knowing her Dad?”  
I shrugged. “I never knew mine.”  
I picked some cans off the shelves and stuck them in my basket while Noel stood awkwardly near us.  
“What the fuck yer starin’ at? Yer got a problem with me bird?” Noel barked.  
I turned to see some random man sheeping away from him looking bewildered. I hadn’t even noticed anyone else was around.   
“Stop! Y’can’t treat people like that.” I didn’t need him playing my guard dog.  
“Should mind his own business.”  
“Can yer blame him? I look fifteen, I’ve got a baby.”  
“You don’t look fifteen, he’s just being a nosy bastard.”  
“Someone said I looked twelve the other day.”  
“They’re an idiot.”  
“Well I look too young to be a mum. I’m short, I’ve got one of those young faces, I don’t look old enough so they jump t’conclusions. Get used to it.”  
“What fuckin’ buisness is it of theirs?”  
“I’m a young, single mum, that’s stare worthy apparently, there’s no point snapping at everyone about it.” I shrugged.  
“I honestly don’t get why y’wouldn’t tell Guis’ or any of us, thought we were friends.”  
“We were fuck buddies.” I told him harshly before heading towards the check out.  
“No we weren’t.”   
“What would yer call it then?”  
“We were mates until y’just fucked off.”  
“I grew up.”  
“Oh, so we’re still kids cos you’ve got her.”  
“No, I didn’t say that.”  
We dropped silent as I was served and he stood awkwardly waiting. We got right back at it as soon as we were leaving the shop.  
“Y’did! I’m fuckin’ older than you.”  
“Don’t make you more mature. Stop twisting me words, I’m not saying you lot are immature, I’m just sayin’ I can’t be part of the Oasis dream now I’ve got her.”  
“I know but y’didn’t have t’just fuck off like that. No goodbye, nothing.”  
“Just forget y’ever saw us, sorry I crashed into yer leg but this ain’t gonna work.”   
“Y’haven’t even tried!”  
“We’ve got no reason to be friends no more, it’s been over a year, we’ve all moved on, it should and has to stay that way.”  
“If you don’t tell ‘im, I will.”  
I really didn’t appreciate him trying to threaten me, I wasn’t “She’s not Guigsy’s for fuck’s sake.”  
“She sure looks like him.”  
“Don’t you think if he was even the slightest bit interested in me he would’ve I don’t know tried to talk to me at some point over the last fifteen months?”  
“We thought y’were in Leicester or some shit.”  
“Why the fuck would I be in Leicester?!”  
“Your Mam told us you had work.”  
I had no idea Mam had lied to them. I thought they didn’t care about me. I thought they hadn’t given me a second thought all this time.  
“Fine, stick t’that and piss off.” I tried to walk away but he kept up.  
“I can’t do that, she’s my kid.”  
“A minute ago y’were convinced she’s Guigsy’s.”  
“Not my fault you just don’t know. What colour’s her eyes?”  
“Blue makes her yours, brown makes her Guigsy’s, what if she’s got green eyes?”  
“Then they’re your eyes, does she ‘ave green?”  
“No, I wish she still had blue eyes though, apparently that’s really rare with ginger but she has like hazel eyes.”  
“She so is his, no point denying it.”  
He was getting on my last nerve, I couldn’t stand to be around him much longer. “I’ve got to head home now, she’ll need her dinner soon. I guess I’ll see ya tonight, if not I really hope Oasis makes it. You lot deserve it.”  
“Y’better not bail on us. See ya in a bit.”  
“Bye.”  
We parted ways.   
I hated lying to Noel but I wasn’t going to go and meet the lads. I didn’t belong at the Boardwalk anymore. He could tell them about me and the baby if he wanted but I wasn’t going to go disturbing things. We were fine on our own.

**Author's Note:**

> This all came from the looks I got from pushing Godkid around the other day, maybe I was being paranoid but like this old man did like the most dramatic, unnecessary step out of the way I've ever seen to let me past. 
> 
> This is probably the first and last character based closely off my appearance. Someone genuinely guessed I was 12, days after my 22nd birthday.
> 
> I guess this goes more with the video than the song which is meant to make you think the people are getting mugged and stuff when they're all trying to help so things aren't what they first seem so don't judge. I was sort of surprised by that, I didn't get that from the video, just that there's something going on out of sequence (maybe cos I've watched it loads including Noel's commentary about 5 times so I don't remember what I first thought) but apparently its based off of some newspaper adverts that made that point.
> 
> I didn't want to commit to who the father was which sort of made her sound more like she just slept around than I wanted but IDC do what you want but like Noel I think she is Guigsy's. Or whether it was a boy or a girl I tossed a coin, well a bank card since I didn't have a coin near by (the future's now) it came out girl which I wanted anyway. 
> 
> Thanks for reading, especially the author note ramble :)


End file.
